Pump Rooms restoration delayed until end of February

THE RESTORATION of Leamington’s Pump Room Gardens is set to be completed before the end of February.

The £1.4million facelift, which began early last year, is running some three weeks behind schedule due to issues with the electricity supply to the gardens.

The works – which include a refurbishment of the bandstand, new paths and landscaping – suffered problems early on with ‘poor subcontractors’ and ‘quality issues’.

Warwick District Council is paying company Idverde – which already has the council’s grounds maintenance contract – some £750,000 to carry out most of the work.

But worries were flagged up with the company, which has since made improvements by employing a different workers and a site supervisor. The council has also hired a site inspector – who is being paid out of the budget – to oversee the renovations.

Council bosses said works to remedy the quality issues had not added a ‘significant’ delay to the project.

A council spokesman said: “The project has had a number of quality issues, mostly dating from the early stages of the project. These have been raised at the highest level with Idverde and they have committed to rectifying these issues at no additional cost, while demonstrating their commitment to it.

“The appointment of a clerk of works by the council to oversee the works has helped to bring the programme back on track.”

The £250,000 refurbishment work on the historic bandstand is being carried out by a different company, Lost Art.

The refurbishment is set to be completed at the start of February after work was also delayed. It was discovered all the decking of the bandstand had to be replaced as it was falling into disrepair. The renovated structure will include watertight storage space built into the flooring, which will hold equipment for events.

* Work to paint and resurface York Bridge, leading from the gardens to York Road and Avenue Road, is set to start in April.

The project will be overseen by Warwickshire County Council and is expected to take eight weeks to complete.

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